It really isn’t that difficult to cook a steak on a pellet grill, ideally, you really do want a form of heat retention but this guide will go over everything I’ve learned over 25 years of cooking steak on gas, wood, charcoal, and using pellet grills.
When I was about 13 years old, my father used to have some pretty decent get-togethers and parties. I was in charge of the grilling whether it be steak or big chunks of rump I had to quickly learn how to get the desired results for 15 to 20 guests at times.
But since I’ve got into pellet grills I’ve learned the key tricks from using various brands and models. I’m going to also cover both traditional grilling and reverse searing, which is useful for thicker cuts like the steak below.
I’ll be the first to admit, it can’t be done out of the box. Unless..
You have some form of heat retention or a heavy bit of metal to hold the heat for the searing – that is the secret behind the pellet grill holding enough heat to caramelize protein.
To cook and sear a steak properly on a pellet grill smoker you need to have some form of heat retention. This can be done with grill grates, caste iron grills, or a caste iron pan.
So let me cover the summary and then I’ll get into some of the detail. Lastly, I will follow up with some useful tips and tricks to get the most out of cooking steak at a pellet grill
Steps to Cook the Perfect Pellet Grill Steak
- Season Meat and refrigerate
- Remove from Fridge, let steak get to room temperature
- Insert Heat Retention & Pre-Heat Direct Pellet Grill to Max Temperature
- Rub with Oil
- Use Instant Read Thermometer or Hand Test to check Doneness
- Rest Wrapped to Relieve Meat Muscle Tension
- Slice Against the Grain & Serve
So you can see from this step-by-step guide above there isn’t really much to in it.
I’ve definitely learned a lot about meat and salt from some books and also an excellent book and documentary Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. If you don’t want to read the book basically it means you can really hit meat hard with salt and it will have more of a tenderizing effect, if you don’t leave it too long.
Also, you want to have the steak dry on the outside which will assist in searing and caramelizing the proteins on the surface creating a type of protein crust with that dark brownish color.
Let’s get into each step and then all the tips.
Steps to Cook the Perfect Pellet Grill Steak
This will be for say under 1.5″ thickness of the meat, later below this I will go step by step through reverse searing when the thickness is more than 1.5″.
1. Season the Meat and Refrigerate
So whether you want to do a rub or mix-up so spices or buy a pre-prepared one.
These rubs and ‘steak seasonings’ always have a certain amount of salt and probably some sugar too quite often.
You can really just give it a good dousing of salt to start with and then stick it in the fridge for 15 minutes to an hour.
So I guess you could call this some type of quick cure where the salt inhibits the meat before it starts to actually draw out moisture. It retains the moisture molecules inside the meat (I have done a huge amount of dry-curing classic Italian-style meat & dry-cured bacon/pancetta things – this is where you really let the salt draw out moisture for preservation and intensifying flavor).
2. Remove from Fridge, and Let Steak Get to Room Temperature
So you normally don’t want to cook a steak straight out of the fridge you want to get it up to room temperature so that it doesn’t take as long to actually start cooking.
It’s just a little bit harder to get a crust on the outside and the proper cook on the inside if you start at a lower temperature stop.
3. Insert Heat Retention & Pre-Heat Direct Pellet Grill to Max Temperature
So you really want a get the pellet grill to the highest temperature whether you’ve got a top temperature of 700°F or 350°F it really doesn’t matter if you have heat retention as mentioned.
Any pellet grill smoker can sear if you retain heat generated from the burn pot.
As long as you’ve got that form of heat retention that makes all the difference. The ability of a pellet grill to sear and create a crust on the steak is all about holding heat.
You might already have one hanging around at home but basically, you just need a cast-iron pan. The biggest tip I have with one of these is to be really careful with the handle.
After I have had a few drinks, I’ll still give myself a minor burn by grabbing the handle without some form of protection even an old dish towel drying towel will do the job for you.
Another tip if you want to actually get a little bit more crust going on especially if you have a steak with a bit of fat either separated fat or when it’s intertwined into the muscle wagyu.
The old chef trick…If you use a cast-iron pan you’re able to get oil in the pan and then put some butter in, the oil will slow down the butter from burning, and then the steak will sear, brown, and crust more easily.
You don’t need a lot of butter.
Trust me, you’ll get another level of crust, I learned this trick when I was doing some observations inside commercial kitchens as a ‘pseudo’ fine dining consultant and seeing how the chefs were doing things (and mixing a few cocktails – what a job!).
Grill Grates
So the ones I’m talking about are like a hardened type of aircraft material and they are hardened aluminum which has certain heat retention properties. Now, these are ideally pumped up to about 600°F, easiest way to test this is with a laser thermometer on the grill if you want to get fancy or just crank up the pellet grill to the max and wait about 15-20 minutes.
Even though these have small holes in them the cool thing about the grill grates is they do vary in size quite a bit. But you can flip them over and you get a much flatter surface which can be suited for different cuts of meat or if you’re doing burger patties or something.
Also if you have the right tool, I sometimes flip them over after a grill session to burn off the grease then all I need to do is brush them down.
4. Rub with Neutral Oil & Turn Steak
My preferred way is just to lightly rub the steaks with a neutral oil, just so the minimum amount of contrasting flavor goes on and I can really just take the steak (hopefully you are using well-sourced meat).
This is the way I like to kind of like to do most of my wild venison as well, which has normally aged nicely. It’s seared to rare sometimes blue (raw in the middle) – need to have quality meat for this approach!
When it comes to flipping stakes
To Flip Once or Not
For decades I used to just flip the steak more just using my gut instinct more than anything else. But what I’ve found is that as long as you get some searing going on before you flip your steaks, either many times or just once. It really doesn’t matter I think.
Just try not to overcook a steak! Loses all flavor!
It’s a bit of a myth that you only have to flip your steak once in my opinion, now if you’re trying to get certain grill marks on it I do understand this is important. (You need 4 flips for crisscross grills anyways!)
Grill marks are just a bit of a novelty for me and normally I just get some good crusting going on. Black grill marks probably also contain all those funky carcinogens so the nice brown caramelized protein crust on the outside is how I prefer my steaks go for doneness not grill marks.
5. Use Instant Read Thermometer or Hand Test to check Doneness
Now for many years of being used just the pressing test to see whether the state has been done when it’s really really soft to the touch then you know that it’s probably pretty rare in that it gets firms as it gets cooked obviously.
Then one day I came across the hand firmness test, which puts my experience into a framework, it’s a 1-minute video.
The easiest way possible is obviously an instant-read thermometer which have become very popular these days or a pen thermometer. I have one but I don’t really need to use one because I am confident about being good at cooking steaks to perfection (overconfidence alert!) (unless it’s a new species or cut!).
6. Rest Wrapped to Relieve Meat Muscle Tension
So for some reason, you’ll still find youtube videos where people don’t bother to rest the meat.
The science behind it is when you have been using direct heat to cook a piece of meat it’s very tense from all that extreme heat. So you need to let those tense muscle fibers relax. And this is basically why you rest the meat, it will be softer & juicier.
With its resting time, you can use foil or a couple of plates, top one upside down. There is an old traditional rule, which is you rest the meat for as long as you cook it.
7. Slice Against the Grain & Serve
If you’ve got a big chunky bit of meat then you always want to cut against the grain because if you bite into it, it will be softer and easier for your teeth to tear and chew. Go with the grain it won’t tear as much.
Here is a really simple 1 minutes explanation about across-the-grain cutting.
The way this is really emphasized is if you’re making jerky or biltong since you have to really tear into it, you notice the grains of the meat were cut the wrong way, you have got some serious meat chewing gum!
Key – Heat Retention on the Pellet Grill
This is so important that I thought to go into it in a bit more detail.
If you’re able to hold that heat that comes out from the wood pellets. Then you definitely can get next-level steak.
In saying that, here is a picture of a steak done on the normal Traeger Timberline pellet grill which goes up to 500°F
As you can see it’s to a reasonable standard, but not quite to the acceptable standard of rendering fat around the outside of these organic delicious sirloins.
For these little bits of steak and sausages, the sausages got a five-minute super smoke blasting as you can see there’s also a pink smoke ring on the outside of the sausages.
I wrote a whole article on here to crank out smoke rings on a pellet grill which basically is wood and low heat under hundred and 170°F.
It seems that after 30 minutes on the low and slow temperature of 200 to 250°F the smoke ring is formed, you can spray or spritz the surface to keep the meat a little bit cooler. (here is the smoke ring post if you want)
Okay back to steaks.
If you want a bit more information about searing equipment that does an excellent job I wrote a page of just a few handpicked products check them out here.
Rendering Fat on a Pellet Grill
Sometimes one of the tricks I like to do. This is completely optional but I’ve seen it at kitchen restaurants as well. Using tongs to hold the steak straight on the grill vertically, especially on cuts like porterhouse or even pork chops the fat can crisp up.
It’s a great way to really render the pork fat on chops, if you’ve got a good searing setup with heat retention.
Temperature for Cooking Steak on a Pellet Grill
I’m not even going to judge the people that like the steaks well done, even though I am a hunter-gatherer my partner doesn’t like the sight of blood or any red in the meat. So guess what, I’ve got to cook her steaks well done.
Classic Grilling Steak on the Pellet Grill
Getting a little bit dark on those grill marks, but no doubt I would still devour this next ribeye in the video.
Reverse Sear Steak on the Pellet Grill
- Salt season meat and refrigerate 15 mins to 1 hour
- Take out and let meat reach room temperature
- Preheat pellet grill to 200-280°F
- Insert Meat Probe and Place Meat in Grill (Indirect Heat)
- Wait until desired ‘take-off’ temperature (see table)
- Place Heat Retention on Grill and Change to Direct Heat
- Increase Pellet Grill heat to Max (Wait 10 minutes)
- Oil/Butter Steak placed on heat retention sear device
- Probe and Reach ‘Sear Until This Temperature (See Table)
- Remove and Rest for at least 5-10 minutes
Oh, the mighty reverse sear (a cool trick) well it’s been around in professional chefs’ kitchens for much much longer than it has on YouTube and the pitmaster grills.
It is for at least 1.5 inch thick steak cuts (or thicker!).
Preheat to something from 200° to about 280°F (approx 93°-140°C), get some good smoke happening, and indirectly cook until it hits the below temperatures. This may take 15 minutes or 45 minutes even, depending on the density and thickness of the meat.
A temperature probe is a must for this one, luckily just about every pellet grill has 1 or 2 built-in.
Stick the probe in and then you just are trying to hit the doneness level – as per below
| Steak | Take Off Pellet Grill | Sear Until This Temperature |
|---|---|---|
| Rare | 130-135°F | 130-140°F |
| Medium rare | 140°F | 145°F |
| Medium | 155°F | 160°F |
| Well done | 165°F | 170°F |
Now crank it up, and get ready with the heat retention thing you are using. Like crank to the max temperature!
Oil and butter if you want the steak and get it on that hot pan, griddle, or grate.
You then slam the steaks on and it shouldn’t take more than 1-3 minutes until those final internal temperatures are reached.
Obviously, cuts of meat and bone or bone out will defer – but this is the overall process as a guide.
Why are Bone-In Steaks Different
When it comes to reverse searing and doing a giant tomahawk, this is where I like to do the reverse searing.
I find that I’ve learned the bone becomes a kind of heat retention device once it gets hot enough. Another old traditional saying is that the meat closest to the bone is the best.
I think I’ve noticed this with roasting bone and chunks of pork or beef.
If you’re doing a reverse sear with the giant bone in there then you want to be measured with a thermometer close to the bone which will generally be the last place to be cooked the bone takes longer to heat up than the muscle possibly.
Pre-Smoking a Steak on a Pellet Grill
For added flavor, some pellet grills
Have a pretty low smoking temperature, once you pull a seasoned bit of meat out of the fridge and it’s dried a little. You can apply some very slow smoking I sometimes do this for 5 to 10 minutes.
Just to give it a bit more of a woodfired flavor, another technique is to use a pellet tube smoker inside the pellet grill which will give some pre-cold smoking onto the meat. I generally only like to do this when the outside temperature is below 68°F/20°C.
You can also use a smoker generator for the ultimate addition to a pellet grill.
Marinades for Tougher Cuts
Basically, a marinade, if it has acidity tenderizes the meat, whereas a dry rub doesn’t and relies a lot on the fat inside the meat.
There are so many ways you can use acidity to break down the meat muscles. It must be one of the oldest tricks in the book when it comes to a bit of tenderizing.
I remember as a kid seeing mum always using a liberal application of a product called Lea & Perrins, which was a savory and sweet type of Worcestershire sauce that also had some sort of acidity either malt or white vinegar.
She used it on beef, pork, rabbit, and lamb – I still use it as a base for certain marinades as well.
This did a great job of breaking down the fibers inside the meat.
And you trick that I’ve learned is to use certain acidic fruit as well as break down steak which is a bit tough including wild game steak. Kiwifruit there is one fruit that will have quite an effect inside of marinade that is left for 6 to 24 hours.
All sorts of other simple seasonings like sesame oil which people talk about but it seems to burn quite easily.
Or the simplest trick of rubbing a clove of garlic onto the steak before you apply oil & butter will actually give quite a lot of garlic flavor to the meat. Garlic is of course incredibly pungent.
Smoked paprika, ground cumin, different types of papers, sumac, and dried hard Italian herbs – these are some of my favorite dried spices that I like to throw around in my rubs and marinades.
The possibilities are endless.
Here are some more resources
Traegers step by step to cooking steak – same as mine – with less detail
And if you want to make the ultimate crust, check this perfect steak crust video – with a hack, mayonnaise!